Chinese and Japanese Studies

James Nelson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Biography

Professor James M. Nelson (B.A. Eastern Washington University, M.Div. Fuller Theological Seminary, M.S. & Ph.D. Washington State University) is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology. He has been a faculty member at VU since 1987 and has served as director of graduate counseling programs and chair of the psychology department. In 1990 he began a major research project with colleagues in China, focusing on the study of cultural differences in depression and personality. In addition to this research, Dr. Nelson's background includes two stints as Director of the VU Hangzhou China program and a year as a visiting scholar in the National Research Center for Asian-American Mental Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Last fall he lead the first VU group visit to Tibet. He teaches courses in cross-cultural psychology and the comparative psychology of Christianity and Buddhism.

He also does occasional work as a photographer, specializing in photography of religious sites and architecture.